TWiV 854: Omicron is evasive

TWiV reviews findings that increased fitness of the Omicron variant is due to immune evasion, not an increase in intrinsic transmissibility, and determination of infectious viral load in patients infected with wild type, Delta and Omicron viruses reveals lack of correlation with RNA loads determined by RT-PCR, similar levels of shedding among Delta and Omicron, and greatly reduced shedding in vaccinated people.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:40:03

Dickson – Favorite Science Photos of 2021
Brianne – Viruses, Vaccines, and COVID-19 videos from American Museum of Natural History
Kathy – Klompas et al. “Current insights into respiratory virus transmission…”
Rich – Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey
Vincent – Ebola (1996) by David Molesky at The Incubator

Listener Picks

Randall – Robert Malone & Peter McCullough: A litany of untruths
Suellen – Omicron and the case of the hidden evolution – Understanding Evolution

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 853: COVID-19 clinical update #97 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #97, Daniel Griffin covers immunity after infection recognized by CDC, outcomes before and after Omicron, infectious viral load in Delta vs Omicron, PCR vs rapid antigen tests, booster interval shortened to 5 months, risk factors for severe outcomes in vaccinated, cross-reactive memory T cells, vaccine effectiveness vs MIS-C, and Rivaroxiban for thromboprophylaxis.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 852: Tree man syndrome

A TWiV threesome explains the observation that humans with inherited T cell CD28 deficiency are susceptible to severe warts driven by human papilloma virus infection, but are otherwise healthy.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:23:43

Brianne – Every Pore on Your Face Is a Walled Garden
Rich – “On Warts” by Lewis Thomas (Pdf)
Vincent – Cells at Work Code Black 1

Listener Picks

Chris – Ria Lina on the Guilty Feminist podcast
Duncan – Meet the green kleptos of the animal kingdom

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 851: Questions are tricky

The TWiV team reviews the observation that infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant causes reduced reproduction and pathogenesis in mice and hamsters.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Brianne Barker, and Amy Rosenfeld

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Weekly Picks 1:26:51

Dickson – Engineering the James Webb Space Telescope
Amy – T cells might be our bodies’ best shot against Omicron
Brianne – Where is Webb?
Rich – First U.S. vaccine mandate in 1809 launched 200 years of court battles
Vincent – The Secret of Life by Howard Markel

Listener Picks

Jen – Antidote
David – Rosie Revere, Engineer

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 850: COVID-19 clinical update #96 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #96, Daniel Griffin reviews Omicron in South Africa, rapid antigen tests, viral coinfections, isolation and quarantine, saliva preferred for Omicron, risk factors for severe disease in vaccinated, Paxlovid dosing, and long COVID.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 849: Arc of the epitope

TWiV kicks off 2022 with a review of the virology highlights of 2021, from three virologists, one immunologist, a science writer, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:47:58

Brianne – Don’t Look Up
Kathy – spaceweather.com
Rich – Video of a Green Flash  (wiki)
Alan – Fungally-modified violins
Vincent – This Old Tony especially this segment

Listener Picks

Paul – Deep Mind and AlphaFold
Grant – SARS-CoV-2 reproduction cycle

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 847: On Dasher, on Dancer, on Corona and Lassa

For the final episode of 2021, TWiV reviews an experimental infectious attenuated Lassa fever vaccine based on a codon-deoptimized glycoprotein gene, and SARS-CoV-2 infection of free-ranging white-tailed deer.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:27:39

Dickson – EO Wilson (Ants and The Conversation)
Brianne – The Best Fun Science Stories of 2021
Kathy – Using sound for data analysis; chemotactic bacteria and Moo loo story
Alan – Owls of the Easern Ice, by Jonathan Slaght
Vincent – TWiV 9: Fever! The discovery of Lassa virus and TWiV 548: Mice, shrews, and caterpillars

Listener Picks

Larry – Immunity
Jeff – Daily Hospital Surveillance Report

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 848: COVID-19 clinical update #95 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #95, Daniel Griffin discusses new CDC guidelines for isolation and quarantine, EUA for Molnupiravir, children and COVID, vaccine safety in 5-11 year olds, Omicron outbreaks in Nebraska and Denmark, Baylor’s COVID vaccine, and COVID-OUT for ivermectin.

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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV 846: Beta was stirring, and now in a mouse

TWiV explores the impact of the intestinal virome on seroconversion after rotavirus vaccination, and implications of the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 beta variant to infect wild-type laboratory mice.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Weekly Picks 1:21:08

Brianne – XKCD on Immune Responses and Immunity
Kathy – UVA Rotunda astrophotograph with Heart and Soul Nebulae by Brennan Gilmore
Rich – James Webb Space Telescope Videos: 29 Days On The Edge; Launch And Deployment
Alan – Sokobond puzzle game
Vincent – International Space Station shines in gorgeous fly-around photos by Crew Dragon astronauts

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 845: COVID-19 clinical update #94 with Dr. Daniel Griffin

In COVID-19 clinical update #94, Daniel Griffin reviews the FDA EUA for Paxlovid, test to stay in school, immunity after infection, variants and therapeutics, quarantine and isolation guidelines, Molnupiravir in non-hospitalized patients, and convalescent serum in outpatients.

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Download TWiV 845 (58 MB .mp3, 48 min)
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Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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